During the 2011-12 season, the worst the Gators have placed in a tournament was 13th at the Mason Rudolph Fall Preview.
Since then, Florida has only finished outside of the top 10 once.
However, on Tuesday the women had another falling out. They finished the first day of the NCAA Championships with a 302 (+14) to put them in a tie for 18th.
“We made some mistakes with golf course management in that we didn’t give the firm greens enough respect,” coach Jan Dowling said. “We also weren’t as committed and decisive as we needed to be on a NCAA Championship caliber golf course.”
Senior Evan Jensen led the Gators on Tuesday with a 74 (+2) carding only three birdies against five bogeys. Mia Piccio, Andrea Watts and Camilla Hedberg all turned in rounds of 76 (+4).
Although Florida had a tough day, Dowling was confident in its ability to get back in the mix.
“It’s just minor, minor things that got us [Tuesday], and if we make these small changes it’s going to go from shooting 14 over to somewhere close to par,” Dowling said.
On Wednesday, the Gators were much closer to par than their first round. They were able to capitalize on their short game, something they struggled with Tuesday, and improved nine strokes for a second day total of 293 (+5).
This time they were led by Hedberg, who’s five birdies helped her card a 69 (-3). Hedberg’s round gave her a huge jump on the leaderboard. She will start the third round tied for 16th after starting Wednesday’s round tied for 70th.
“Camilla played a really solid round of golf today. She had five birdies, which means she was rolling the ball very well on the putting green,” Dowling said. “She hit the ball great, and you’ve got to do that out here.”
Jensen and Piccio were also able to improve their standings moving up two and six spots, respectively.
Although the team had a significantly better round on Wednesday, they weren’t able to move up the leader board much. The Gators will start the third round tied for 15th in hopes of breaking into the top 10.
“Tied for 15th doesn’t sound that great, but there’s so few shots separating us from 15th and 10th and so forth,” Dowling said. “If we keep playing solid like we did today, I think we’re going to keep moving up that leaderboard.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
